NEW DELHI: Congress chief Rahul Gandhi took a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over delay in enacting the anti-graft Lokpal Bill four years after the previous UPA government passed it.
“Four years have passed by, but there is no Lokpal. The people are asking till when will you lie. Are the defenders of democracy and harbingers of accountability listening,” Rahul tweeted.
He also posted an earlier tweet of Modi, in which he had congratulated BJP leaders Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley on December 18, 2013, when Parliament passed the Lokpal Bill.
The anti-graft legislation had to be rushed through Parliament by a scam-hit UPA under pressure from anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare and the BJP. The Congress lost power at the Centre in the 2014 national elections in which Modi had made fighting corruption his major poll plank.
However, there has been little progress on enacting the Lokpal office ever since Modi became PM as an amendment to the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013, is still pending in the Parliament. However, the selection panel for the anti-graft body requires the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha to be a member.
That issue has remained stuck as the government has not recognised Congress leader in the House Mallikarjun Kharge as LoP as the party’s tally at 44 was below the stipulated 54 in the Lok Sabha. The Congress had claimed it deserved the LoP post being the single largest party in the House.